1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to display hanging apparatus, and more particularly to a novel set of rod-like members and associated appliances for hanging flexible sheets of material such as large photos in any of a wide variety of display orientations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Scrolls, calendars, wall hangings, tapestries and many other similar articles have long been displayed by attaching upper and lower edges to elongated rods, tubes or the like made of wood or various metals so that the article can be hung from a ceiling or a wall. The rods are typically rigid and serve the purpose of providing means for maintaining one or more edges of the sheet material in a planar configuration. Typically, the edge was glued or stapled to the surface of the rod or wrapped thereabout and attached to itself. In most cases, the edge engaging rods were permanently affixed to the sheet. This meant that the rods and associated hanging hardware were either not reusable upon discard of the sheet material or required refurbishing prior to reuse. In addition, where the rods were permanently affixed to the sheet material, shipping of the product from one point to another was somewhat difficult and awkward in that the material would have to be wrapped about at least one of the rods with the other forming the tail of the roll. This made packaging inefficient.
With the advent of more rugged plastic and plastic-like sheet materials including photographic sheets such as those made by Kodak, it has become practical to use very large photographic wall hangings for artistic, decorative or promotional displays. However, to date, no one has addressed the problem of providing an efficient, easy to install and use a hanging system for use of such applications.